Indian immigrant fights deportation after arrest over ‘Opium’ perfume

An Indian immigrant detained by ICE after Arkansas police mistook his bottle of “Opium” perfume for narcotics is pleading with federal authorities to dismiss his case and restore his work visa.

Catch up: Police pulled over Kapil Raghu, 28, on May 3 in Benton for a reflective license plate cover while he worked as a pizza delivery driver. After getting permission to search the vehicle, officers found a small bottle marked “Opium (W)” in the center console. Despite his repeated insistence that it was only fragrance, he was charged with drug possession.

Lab testing later confirmed it was perfume, leading prosecutors to drop all charges on May 20. The arrest, however, revealed that his B-2 tourist visa from May 2024 had expired because his former immigration lawyer missed filing deadlines for renewal. Raghu had married U.S. citizen Ashley Mays in April and was seeking permanent residency. After three days in Saline County Jail, ICE transported him to Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, where he spent 30 days.

The latest: Months after his arrest, Raghu submitted a letter to ICE on Oct. 2 urging the agency to exercise prosecutorial discretion by dismissing his deportation proceedings and restoring his visa. “My wife, who has always been my greatest support, is carrying the entire financial burden alone, as I am currently unable to work. The mounting legal fees and the pressure of not being able to contribute have created a difficult situation for our family,” he wrote. Under current restrictions, he cannot work for as long as four years during immigration court proceedings, and any minor violation could trigger immediate deportation.

What they’re saying: Throughout the ordeal, Raghu and his wife have insisted they did nothing wrong. “We’re not bad people. We didn’t do anything wrong. We’re just a normal family,” Mays told THV11. Meanwhile, attorney Mike Laux argued the traffic stop had troubling elements. “BNPD, with what we think was a baseless stop that may have had a racial profiling component, set into motion a series of events that spun out of control,” he told The Saline Courier, adding that officers failed to follow Vienna Convention requirements by not contacting India’s Consular General after detaining a foreign national.

In a statement, Benton police said the officer determined the vial was a controlled substance “based on the totality of the circumstances known to the officer” and that an investigation is ongoing.

Why this matters: The case unfolds amid the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown, which has intensified enforcement and expanded deportations beyond serious criminals to include immigrants with minor violations or expired visas. To keep the family afloat, Mays has taken on three jobs while spending their home-buying savings on attorney costs, including $20,000 borrowed to cover Raghu’s bond payment. The emotional toll has also been steep, with their 10-year-old daughter now receiving counseling after Raghu’s absence during her fourth-grade completion ceremony.

In their GoFundMe page, the family describes what happened to them as reflecting systemic problems: “abuse, discrimination, racial profiling and violations that so many families like ours experience in silence.” The family is waiting for ICE to decide whether to grant prosecutorial discretion.